Totally geodesic submanifolds in Riemannian geometry

When

Start: 03/08/2017 - 4:15pm End : 03/08/2017 - 5:15pm

Category

Colloquium

Speaker

Thomas Murphy (CSU Fullerton)

Abstract

One of the main avenues of research in Riemannian geometry has been submanifold geometry, which studies how one manifold "sits" (embeds) inside another. It is analogous to studying subgroups of a given group. Totally geodesic embeddings are the simplest cases to study, but the problem is fiendishly difficult. I will explain carefully the objects mentioned in the title of talk, outline the history and importance of the classification problem, and explain some work in progress with Fred Wilhelm (UCR) concerning their existence in generic settings.